README.markdown

PySIMBAD.py

Warning

This has been deprecated for a long time, even though it still works.

It was originally written as simbot, later renamed to PySIMBAD, in 2006 for the TÜBİTAK National Observatory (TÜBİTAK Ulusal Gözlemevi - TUG) Data Archive, to resolve alternative names of astronomical objects, i.e. name resolution. Now there are various tools for that.

About

This is a simple script, written in a simple manner.
Just connects to the CDS-Simbad Astronomical Services and retrieves information parsing the HTML files.
Can be used both as a Python module, or a standalone program.
Still has a lot to do, I'll add some stuff when I have the time.

Dependency

Python 2.6.x

Usage

Can be used as a standalone program.
PySIMBAD.py <object name>
This will output everything that can be retrieved about the object.

Example :

PySIMBAD.py "bl cam"

Also can be used as a Python module.

Let's first import it.

import PySIMBAD as sim

Now we build a link for our desired object name, and we assign it to an object name (here named as "star"),